“This transfer of the properties is part of our effort to clean up some of the ownership and the right-of-way throughout the city,” said Hamilton Assistant Director of Engineering Alan Messer.
The property the TID took ownership of during the highway construction project is from Ohio 4 to the east corporation limits, and that includes the road, the steps, and some of the side streets.
“This does not create a maintenance issue for the city as Hamilton was already responsible for that maintenance,” Messer said. The city committed, according to a mid-1990s agreement, to maintain the improvements that were built by the TID as a part of that project, and one of those was the steps and ramps, which replaced sidewalks along Princeton Road and High Street.
The problem is now the steps, which also include switchback ramps for ADA compliance, are not in great shape, Messer said.
Bringing the steps and ramps into a “like-new” condition would require a $250,000 investment. The other two options ― removing the stairs entirely or simple maintenance to improve them ― would cost the same amount: around $75,000.
The Regional Highway project was the Butler County TID’s first project when it was formed, and the city learned to put properties for projects immediately into Hamilton’s name as opposed to the county TID to avoid this administrative issue.
But Messer said there is no legal requirement to keep the stairs and ramps, but they are utilized. If they remove the steps and ramps, it would add about a mile to the students’ walk that live in the neighborhoods up that hill. Additionally, there are people who use the stairs and ramps for exercise.
Hamilton administrators are currently discussing the 2024 budget, and Messer said while it’s not an urgent need, “it’s getting there.”
“It looks pretty bad,” he said, adding there isn’t a current hazard for people using the stairs, though the railings are loose. “It’s not the appearance we want for the people using them.”
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